USHC – 2.3: Compare economic

development in different regions

of the US during the early

nineteenth century, including

ways that economic policy

contributed to political

controversies.

NORTH V. SOUTH V. WEST

Sectionalism

Different regional characteristics, social values and

political interests

GEOGRAPHIC DIFFERENCES

Let’s review!

Colonial period geographic differences?

Examples: Safe harbors and fast flowing rivers in the North, fertile land for cash crops in the South and abundant new resources in the West (fertile farm land and mineral deposits.

INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION

Social and economic reorganization

Machines replaced hand tools

Large-scale factory production

Started in G.B.

18th c.

Eli Whitney – interchangeable parts

Exactly alike

Mass Production

Large quantities

NORTH-ECONOMICS

Shipping industry

Manufacturing Centers

Textile Mills

Finance

Banks/Professionals

NORTH-SOCIAL VALUES

Immigrants (German and

Irish) worked in factories

No need for slaves

1804 – Abolished

Education

Northern reformers called for

public education to assimilate

immigrants

NORTH-POLITICS

Continued controversy over

the Bank of the US.

Most economic power was with

the wealthy Northeasterners.

Supported the Protective

Tariff to protect their infant

industries.

Completion of the Erie Canal

made Northeast and

Northwest closer

SOUTH-ECONOMICS

Antebellum (before the Civil War) Eli Whitney-

Cotton Gin – “engine”

1793

Removed seeds from fibers

Plantations

VA, NC, SC, GA, AL, MS, LA, TN, AR, MO

Continued to invest in Cash Crops

VERY dependent on slaves

SOUTH-ECONOMICS

Slaves and Cotton

1790 1810

Bales of

Cotton

3,000 178,000

# of Slaves 700,000 1,200,000

• Fugitive Slave

Law

• 1850

• Runaway slaves

would be returned

SOUTH-SOCIAL VALUES

Education wasn’t that

important.

Outlawed teaching

Africans to read and

did not provide

education even for

white children

SOUTH-POLITICAL

INTERESTS

Opposed National Bank b/c it gave too much power to the wealthy Northerners.

Opposed the protective tariff in the nullification crisis (USHC 2.1)

Opposed internal improvements but supported cheap land as they moved west to plant more cotton.

WEST-ECONOMICS

Largely Agriculture and Industry

John Deere

Steel Plow

Faster farming techniques

Windmill

Use wind to power machinery

Corn, Wheat, Cattle

Cowtowns

Herded cattle to railroads for transport

Cowboys

WEST-SOCIAL

VALUES

Immigrants

Came on railroads

Homestead Act

160 acres free

Plant crops and improve land

Oklahoma Land Rush

“Sooner” you get there, the better

Claim land

WEST-POLITICAL

INTERESTS

Opposed the National

Bank like the South.

Supported the protective

tariff in exchange for

support of internal

improvements and cheap

land.

Tied to northeast

through the Erie Canal

* REGIONS WERE DEVELOPING DIFFERENTLY

* PURPOSE OF SYSTEM:

- NEEDED A PLAN TO UNITE SECTIONS

- CREATE A STABLE ECONOMY

- HELP NATION BE SELF-SUFFICIENT

3 POINTS :

1. ESTABLISH A PROTECTIVE TARIFF (BUY

AMERICAN)

2. CHARTER THE SECOND NATIONAL BANK

3. SPONSOR DEVELOPMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

SYSTEM & INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS

Henry Clay’s American

System

REGIONAL DIFFERENCES

American System was threatening to the South which added to animosity between the regions.

Different economic interests led to differences over the extension of slavery into the west and contributed to disagreements over Missouri, Texas, California and Kansas

ULTIMATELY LEADS TO SECESSION AND WAR!

THE DIVISIVE POLITICS OF

SLAVERY

Over the centuries, the Northern and Southern sections of the United States had developed into two very different cultural and economic regions

There were also differences in geography and climate, as well as religious differences

THE NORTH BEFORE THE

WAR

The North had a more diverse economy

Industry flourished

Openly opposed slavery in the South and the new territories

More urbanized than South

BOSTON HARBOR

CULTURE OF THE NORTH

Puritans in New England

Education to read the

Bible

Towns and cities pop up

and revolve around the

churches

Quakers in Mid-Atlantic

Diversity

NYC

Immigrants were

attracted to jobs in

growing industries

CULTURE OF THE NORTH

Slaves

Few slaves

No significant impact on

culture

Political Issues

Promoted regional interests

High tariffs

National bank

THE SOUTH BEFORE THE

WAR

Rural plantation economy

Relied on slave labor

“Peculiar Institution” created tension

Southerners feared that the loss of slavery would mean loss of culture

Family working the cotton

field on a Plantation

CULTURE OF THE SOUTH

Plantations created a privileged class that controlled the government, politics, and economy

Fewer small towns Rivers brought ships close to the fields

Education was private Only for the wealthy

Did not educate poor whites and did not allow slaves to read or write

WESTERN CULTURE

Developed by Settlers Northwest

Influenced by New England values

Kentucky, Alabama, Mississippi, Texas

Influenced by southern states

Manifest Destiny Individualism

Political Issues Cheap Land Internal Improvements Uncontrolled banking

AFRICAN AMERICANS IN THE NORTH Freed slaves soon after Declaration of Independence

Some still had slaves into the 1830’s

Slavery prohibited by Northwest Ordinance

Freed blacks did not have same rights as whites

“Last hired, first fired”—least attractive jobs

De facto segregation

AFRICAN AMERICANS IN THE

SOUTH

Most were slaves

Conditions dependent upon locale and masters

Freedmen lived in cities to find work

Not granted civil or political rights

REFORM MOVEMENTS

Abolitionist Movement-immediate emancipation of slaves

Developed among Quakers

Key Abolitionists

Nat Turner

Frederick Douglass

Harriet Tubman

Williams Lloyd Garrison

Grimke sisters

Harriet Beecher Stowe

John Brown

ABOLITIONISTS

ABOLITIONIST MOVEMENT

Engaged in a variety of

forms of protest such as:

Newspapers

Anti-slavery

conventions

Wrote books

Underground Railroad

Led rebellions

ANTI-ABOLITIONIST

Southerners argued that slavery was good

Slaves were better off than industrial workers and

therefore slavery is a ‘positive good’

• Most Northerners were not abolitionists and even some

abolitionists did not believe that freed slaves should

have equal rights. It was not effective until arguments

about western expansion led to confrontation.

The “Happy Slave”

WOMEN’S RIGHTS MOVEMENT

Abolitionist movement split

leads to questions of women’s

rights

Women speaking on the issue

of slavery?

Limited access to education,

rights to own property, divorce

Not successful at this time

Elizabeth Cady Stanton and

Lucretia Mott

Senceca Falls (NY) Convention

1848